-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Sometimes , it pays to read between the lines .

At least that may be the message -- and , more accurately , the hope -- of workers at the National Weather Service office in Anchorage , Alaska .

The message can be found in an official forecast put out at 5 a.m. -LRB- 9 a.m. ET -RRB- that seems , at first glance , routine with its discussion of air pressure , wind speeds and weather systems .

But if you line up the first letters of each word from top-to-bottom in the forecast , under the heading `` Analysis and Upper levels , '' there 's something else there : P-L-E-A-S-E-P-A-Y-U-S .

That breaks down into three simple words : Please pay us .

Meteorologists at the service 's Anchorage office declined Friday afternoon to comment on the possibly cryptic wording , saying they can only speak about weather-related matters . It was not immediately clear who exactly put out the forecast or whether a message was intentionally tucked into it .

Still , it 's no secret that National Weather Service employees -- like other federal government employees -- are n't getting paid as long as the government is shut down . That began Tuesday and there has been no indication that it will end anytime soon , with Democrats and Republicans holding firm on their positions that the other is to blame and that they wo n't budge .

Up to 800,000 federal workers are at risk of furlough , meaning they wo n't report to work until the sides agree on a spending plan that President Barack Obama signs into law .

Other federal employees are still working , because what they do is considered essential by the government . That includes many at the National Weather Service .

Whenever the shutdown ends , these government workers should get back-pay . But there 's no telling when that will happen , meaning they could work for days , weeks or months before they take home a paycheck .

CNN 's Kevin Wang contributed to this report .

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A National Weather Service 's Anchorage office forecast may have a subliminal message

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The first letters of one section line up to spell out `` please pay us ''

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Meteorologists decline to comment on the message

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Weather Service employees are working but not getting paid due to government shutdown